Barker says Crawley deserved to win

Boss Richie Barker felt Crawley were unlucky not to win after being held to a 1-1 draw by high-flying Doncaster Rovers.

Josh Simpson gave Reds the lead but James Husband levelled just before half-time and Crawley were unable to find a winner in the second half.

Barker said: "I thought the players were fantastic. They took the gameplan on board, worked extremely hard and deserved to win the game.

"I can't remember us playing that well for 80 minutes of a game for a long time. We dominated and considering we were playing against a team who could have gone top that shows how good we were.

"Paul Jones can't remember making a save which shows how on top we were."

Barker also felt Rovers striker Billy Paynter was lucky not to be sent off after catching Mark Connolly in the face with an elbow.

Paynter was one of four Doncaster players to be booked in a bruising game where the visitors committed 20 fouls.

However, Barker did not have any complaints about the challenge which led to Simpson limping off with a serious looking ankle injury.

He added: "I thought it was an elbow on Mark but the fourth official and the referee obviously didn't agree. They were very physical but I think that shows how well we played as they were getting frustrated.

"I thought Josh had been kicked on the ankle but he actually twisted it. Eight times out of ten he could have gone in for the same tackle and been fine."